


A Schedule to Keep

by rarebirdalert



Category: Persona 4
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-12
Updated: 2015-02-08
Packaged: 2018-02-20 19:55:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2441006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rarebirdalert/pseuds/rarebirdalert
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yosuke could see that he was grinning like a dork in the tiny window showing his end of the feed, but he didn't care about that at all. It was amazing how much the little things that had annoyed him all day seemed far less important when they made their nightly phone call.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Running with some headcanons on my version of the P4A events, now that I've finished P4AU, and adapting them out of some roleplay events. Chapters posted here when cobbled together as applicable.

"We're home," he called as he pulled the door shut behind him. "Dad's gonna be a bit longer," he added, before his mother could ask.

"There's rice on the warmer and the rest of dinner can get warmed up," she said instead, from where she was folding laundry.

"Ooh, what's for dinner?" Teddie asked. "I've been starving since lunch!"

"Liar, you had three steak skewers on break AND you kept bugging Makoto at the demo stand for more dumplings." Yosuke started to toss his jacket onto the back of the chair, but his mom's dire stare made him reconsider and hang it up properly. 

"But I'm a growing boy! I need nutrition or I'll waste away! You don't want that, do you, Yosuke?" Teddie even managed to make his eyes water as he whimpered--even more impressive considering he was frantically loading up his plate at the same time.

"Dude, don't take all the good stuff. Augh, whatever. I'll get dinner later, I've got a call to make." He turned for the stairs, shooting Teddie one last glare. "And don't come in after me!"

"But Yosuke-" and he dashed up the stairs and into his room before he could hear Teddie's objection, shutting it behind him with satisfaction.

Dumping his bags next to his unmade futon, Yosuke collapsed into his computer chair, sighing deeply. Lower-than-expected test score, getting called out in class without knowing the answer, a string of irritated customers at work because a sale item was sold out... All of it just stuff to get through until this moment. He opened his laptop and waited impatiently as it came out of sleep mode, pushing his headphones up from around his neck onto his ears and sliding out the mic piece. He plugged them in just as the wake up chime started, muttering irritably about how slow the machine was and eying the clock nervously. Not late, not yet, but when the messenger program finally connected, there he was on the contacts list. Without hesitation he clicked the call button.

The reproduction dial tone ran a few times before the call got accepted, and first he heard some muffled sounds. "Sorry, you caught me off guard," said the voice on the other end, and despite the connection making him sound tinny with distance, Yosuke felt a flush of warmth at hearing his voice again. A moment later the video flickered in, and he saw a neat and orderly room with a window onto city lights behind the gently smiling face of a tall, slender guy with grey hair in a bowlcut and soft eyes, wearing a thin grey sweatshirt.

Yosuke could see that he was grinning like a dork in the tiny window showing his end of the feed, but he didn't care about that at all. It was amazing how much the little things that had annoyed him all day seemed far less important when they made their nightly phone call. "Hey, partner."

"Hey, partner," Souji agreed. "Nice to see you too. Long day?"

He sighed and rolled his eyes, but he couldn't keep from grinning even still, just a little bit. "Yeah, and Teddie's being a pain in the ass again. I bet he's eating up all the dinner leftovers right now."

"Ouch. You didn't grab dinner first?" Souji looked faintly disapproving.

"I grabbed something at work. I'm not gonna starve, okay?" He ducked his head. "Besides, it was getting late. I didn't wanna miss the call again."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about the other day. I just had a lot of homework to do."

"No, man, it's cool. That's more important than this, I mean, it's not like we can't text or whatever." He darted his eyes guiltily toward his bag. He had plenty of his own homework, but the idea of missing another call just to stumble his way through some poetry readings he was going to fail anyway wasn't really appealing. 

"Yosuke."

"Hmm?" He looked back at his partner's image.

"What about your homework?" Souji's voice was faintly accusatory.

"Oh, um. Don't worry. I'll take care of it."

Souji shook his head slightly. "We'll keep it short tonight."

"Aw, c'mon, man! It's not that much, really, I can just wake up early and do it!"

Souji raised his brows. "You? Wake up early? To work on homework?"

He sighed and hunched down. "Fiiiiine. You've got a point. Okay, shorter call and I'll work on my homework tonight. So can we stop talking about it now? I don't wanna use up all my time talking about that."

His partner's smile returned. "You know I'm just looking out for you."

He bit his lip as a shy smile of his own threatened to form. "Yeah, I know. I appreciate it, dude, I mean it. I'm kinda useless without you."

"No, you're not," Souji said firmly. "But you could put a bit more effort into it. I know you can. Besides, you've got a good reason to make sure you're on top of all that coming up."

He'd hunched down a bit under his partner's lecture, as gentle as it was, but now he blinked curiously. "What are you talking about?"

Souji sat back in his chair, a small smile on his face. "Well, you know Golden Week's coming up, right?"

"Ugh, don't remind me," he sighed. "We're gonna be busier than last year, there's going to be all sorts of events going on, I gotta make sure Ted gets with the program too-"

"Well," Souji interrupted before he could really wind up his rant, "just be sure you can have some time off in the second part of the holiday, okay?"

"Huh? Well, that could be kinda tough, but it's the second half, so most of the big stuff will be over. But why?"

His partner put his elbows on his desk, leaning forward on his hands. "Well," he drew out, smiling in satisfaction that his dramatic reveal was making Yosuke glower impatiently. "I just spoke to Dojima-san and made arrangements. I'll be coming to visit."

"What?" Yosuke yelped, maybe a bit too loudly from the way Souji winced. "Dude, are you serious?"

"Heh, yeah, I'm serious. I was planning to wait until summer, but I thought about it and I'm able to make it work, so why not?" He smiled. "And of course I had to tell you first."

Yosuke flushed, his ears feeling hot under the headphones. But even that little surge of happy-embarrassment couldn't distract him for more than a moment. "Dude, this is awesome! I thought I was gonna have to wait until summer to see you again! Man, everyone's gonna be so excited--I bet Nanako-chan's thrilled!"

"Yeah," and Souji smiled that special smile reserved for his niece who more like a little sister to him, especially after everything they'd gone through this last year. "She was really happy to hear about it. Dojima-san sounded happy about it too, reminded me that he meant it when he said I've always got a place with them. So that's really good to know. You'll tell everyone else, right?"

"Of course I will, partner! Man, this'll be awesome, we gotta get everyone back together!" He grinned, then paused. "Well, you know, it might be hard to get in touch with Rise, she's getting her comeback rolling. And Naoto's been in and out with work too. But I can definitely pass the word along, maybe both of them can get some time off too."

"I thought Naoto was attending Yasogami full-time now." Souji tilted his head.

"Yeah, he is, but I think he's still wrapping up stuff from the case. Sometimes he's absent from classes and says he's gonna be busy for a few days. But it's not like that's gonna affect his grades any."

"Unlike you."

Yosuke sighed. "Yeah, yeah, unlike me, yeah, I know. Reminder acknowledged, I promise, I will work on my homework after this."

"And you know, I wouldn't mind helping you with it. Like, if you worked on it while on the call with me. Like a study session, just over the internet."

"Yeah," he said, brightening. "You know, that might actually work, partner. I mean, you'd be the hardass and won't let me get distracted, won't you?"

"You bet I would." Souji chuckled. "Besides, it's harder to get distracted when I can't actually kiss you."

Yosuke reddened, covering his face. "Dude!" he objected, over Souji's warm laughter. "Not cool!"

"So that's something else I'll have to catch up on when I visit," he went on, unrelenting in the face of Yosuke's embarrassment. "I mean, if you want to."

He glared right at the camera, his face burning. "You are SO not cool."

"Is that a no?"

He hid his face again. "Fine, yeah, you know I do, okay?" he muttered, aware that his voice was muffled. "Jerk."

"Well, I do have to make sure," his partner said, his voice warm.

Yosuke sat back up, eying him. "Still a jerk," he said.

"And you still want to date me?" he asked with mock surprise.

"Yeah, I dunno what's wrong with me. You're lucky I can't throw my pencil at you over the internet."

"Guess that is a benefit, if no kisses is the downside." Souji grinned, unrepentant. "Alright. So you wanna try this study session idea?"

Yosuke paused with a soft laugh. "Heh. Yeah, let's give it a try. I mean, if it doesn't work out, at least I get to spend more time with you, right?"

"I see how it is." Despite the words, his expression was warm, and Yosuke couldn't help but bask in it for just a little bit. "Alright, c'mon, get your stuff. What're you working on?"

He grinned and reached over for his bag. "You sure you're not gonna get fed up with me like you did when we were studying for exams? And I had like, two pages of notes for the entire term?"

Souji settled back in his chair. "Well, I want to believe that even you couldn't get that far behind already. I hope you're not going to prove me wrong."

"Nah, it's not that bad," he said as he straightened back up, putting his work on the desk and fishing around for a pencil. "Well, I hope not. Anyway, it's lit today."

Souji chuckled. "Starting off with a tough one, huh? Well, let's see what you've got."

As they settled in to the tiresome topic of Edo period literature, Yosuke fought to keep himself focused on the homework as the back of his mind buzzed in excitement. His partner, coming back for Golden Week! Sure, he'd have to take a ton of shifts during the busy opening if he was going to get the time off, but he'd work a month straight without a day off if it meant seeing his partner again.

"Yosuke?"

"Hmm?" He blinked at the monitor. Souji was giving him a concerned look. "Wha?"

"You didn't answer me when I asked if you can draw comparisons to works outside the period for the essay. I didn't think lit actually put you to sleep, but maybe I was mistaken."

He flushed slightly. "No, that's not it. I guess I'm just thinking about Golden Week."

"Ahh," and Souji chuckled. "Maybe I should have saved that for the end of the call."

"Heh. Maybe. Sorry, dude. I guess I'm just really glad that I'll get to see you again so soon." He ducked his head down, embarrassed at his own sappiness.

He smiled. "Hey, I'm excited about that too, you know."

Yosuke looked down at his homework spread out in front of him and sighed. "I guess I just have to keep my act together until then, so I can enjoy it."

"You'll do fine, I know you will. And hey, tomorrow you get to tell everyone about me coming to visit." Souji chuckled. "I mean, I could tell them, but I bet you'd love to be the one to break the news."

"You bet I would." He grinned brightly, already imagining Chie's face. "Man, this is gonna be great. I can't wait to see you again!"

Souji brushed his hair out of his eyes and smiled into the camera. "I've missed you too, partner."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He blinked again, faster, then tried to sniffle quietly. The words happened, before he could catch them and pull them back. "You... You're important to me. You know that, right?" He froze at the end, trembling, waiting for them to hit and something to shatter.

"You there?" he typed into the chat program. He felt a tingling twitching nervous sensation crawling over him up from his arms and through his body. He wanted to curl up, hunch over and wrap his arms over his stomach, but he forced himself to at least try to sit.

He waited.

He rubbed his arms and stared at the dark window, trying not to talk himself out of this. He'd already sent the message, it was too late to take it back. If he needed to, he could probably deflect, but he'd have to go through with this if he answered.

If he answered.

He'd answer. If he wasn't busy. He always did.

There was a sinking feeling that made his chest feel tight and his breath come shallow. It felt a little bit like drowning on dry land and he had no idea what to do about it. Somewhere in the back of his mind he dug up that advice about straightening his back and slowing his breaths, and he wasn't sure that entirely applied here, but he figured he'd give it a try anyway while waited.

He looked back at the screen.

Message from Souji. "Yeah, I'm here. What's up?"

His heart stopped. He swallowed, then remembered to breathe again. He uncurled and started to type again. "Just wanted to talk, if you can. No big deal." No big deal at all. Just his mind racing and his heart doing the same thing. Nope, this was noooo big deal.

"Sure, of course I can. Let me get my headset."

Shitshitshit he hadn't thought about that, he thought it'd be just typing and he could try to think about his words but then the call was happening, he didn't even have the webcam enabled, he scrambled to plug in his headphones (they were around his neck, of course they were). He clicked Accept Call.

A moment of silence, white noise from the background, and then a voice, soft and gentle and warm. "Hey."

"Hey," he murmured. "Hang on. Moving my laptop a bit."

"No problem. Sorry, I should have checked before I called."

"Nah, it's cool, dude," he said as he picked up the computer and sat it down on his futon, crossing his legs as he sat down beside it. He stuffed a pillow between his back and the wall, laying the other across his lap. "I kinda messaged outta nowhere, it's my bad."

"Yosuke," and there was a tiny note of chiding in his voice, with warmth curling all around it to take the edges off, "I wouldn't have made the call if I wasn't willing to talk. What's going on?"

"I, uh..." He hesitated, swallowing, looking with guilt at the screen. He took a breath and tried again. "I missed you. 'Sall."

There was a heartbeat of silence on the other end. Then, softer, "I missed you too, Yosuke. I always miss you."

"Heh...you do?" He curled around the pillow in his lap, staring at the opposite wall and blinking a few times.

"Yeah, I do. I miss hanging out with you, going places with you. I miss everyone, of course," and there was a tiny hitch in his voice, "but I miss you, always."

He blinked again, faster, then tried to sniffle quietly. The words happened, before he could catch them and pull them back. "You... You're important to me. You know that, right?" He froze at the end, trembling, waiting for them to hit and something to shatter.

"Yosuke..." His voice was so soft. So gentle, and warm, delicate and winding its way around his heart, it really felt like that. It made him feel like trembling, it made his throat tight and his face hot, it made him want to wrap his arms around him-

But he couldn't. He could only cling to this pillow and fail at blinking back tears. "I just. I needed to tell you that, I guess," he said, trying to make his voice lighter and succeeding only in making it crack.

"Yosuke." He heard the sound of clothing rustling through the microphone. "I'm always glad to hear it. It's," and there was a tiny break in his voice, his voice that was usually so calm and even, "it's hard sometimes, being alone over here."

"Y-yeah," and he kicked himself mentally. Of course it was harder for him. He was the one who had to leave everyone.

"So I try to remind myself, but it doesn't work quite as well as when I get to hear you say it." The break was smoothed over, now it was that warmth that meant he was smiling, he could hear the smile, he could picture it, gentle and mostly in his eyes, he loved looking into his eyes-

Yosuke swallowed. "I-I'll try to be better about saying it, then," he stumbled over the words. "L-like, I mean, I want to. Okay, it's not- it's something I want to say, it's just hard, and I should be better at it, really, because I want..." His voice was starting to fail him so he pushed the last words through in a near whisper. "I want to be better for you."

Silence, and he trembled, afraid he'd gone too far, and he was too much, this was too much, this was all going to fall apart and it had been a mistake for him to even think he could be good for someone like him, someone who was so great already, someone who didn't need someone clinging to him and dragging him down, someone who didn't need-

"Yosuke." His voice was thin. It warbled on the edges. "Yosuke, you don't... You are better for me. You're. You're one of the best things that's ever happened to me, I mean it."

Oh.

"Oh." He swallowed. He didn't know when he had started crying but his face was wet and hot. "...you are, too. To me. The best thing that's ever happened to me."

"I'm glad to hear it." His voice was steadier now, but there was still that thinness, that waver. "I like to think that means this is a good thing."

This relationship, that's what he meant--Yosuke's brain was helpfully supplying that. He wanted to shy away from it again, that was his instinct, but wasn't it getting a little tiring, to keep shying away from it when time and time again he saw there was no reason to keep doing that? He cleared his throat to give facing it a try. Facing it obliquely, but it was a work in progress, and he'd understand, wouldn't he? "Y-yeah, I think you're right. Partner."

A tiny sharp intake of breath, then: "Partner."

That was warmth, that was a rush of something almost tangible, almost like the way it felt when Souji wrapped his arms around him and pulled him close. It was a word they used for each other from the very start and maybe that was why it had so much meaning in it, layers that had added on to each other, making the sum of it more than could be easily explained, but implicit when they used that word for each other. And they both knew it. What a convenient shorthand. It probably wouldn't be sufficient in the long term, but for now it seemed like it would be enough.

Besides, it wasn't very long until he'd be back.

He sighed, he didn't realize just how much tension had knotted him up until it started to bleed away, and he rubbed the back of his hand over his eyes. "S-sorry, I'm getting all sappy on you again," he said with a small laugh, but far less self-deprecation than he used all those times before.

A laugh on the other end. "I like it when you do. You say a lot of great things when you get sappy. Stuff I like to remember."

"Y-yeah, so you can embarrass me with it later, I bet," and another small laugh, easier this time, and he found he was smiling, picturing his face.

"Mm, I don't really need to do that with it," Souji said gently.

"True, I mean, I guess I do a pretty good job embarrassing myself without you having to lift a finger."

A grin, he was sure he heard a grin in his voice. "When you put it that way."

He laughed, ducking his head down. "...Shit. I can't wait to see you, partner."

"I know. Not long now. Have you told everyone yet?"

"Not yet," he admitted reluctantly. "I wanted to see if Naoto and Rise could make it. And, well. I kinda wanted to make a big deal out of it..."

A laugh, warm and accepting. "Well, just let me know when you do, it's getting hard not to share the news. I asked Nanako to keep it a surprise but who knows how long she'll manage."

"Y-yeah, I should probably let everyone know, so she doesn't like, explode or anything about her big brother coming back. Maybe I can get the gang together at Junes tomorrow and let them know."

"That's one thing I want to do. Just hang out at the food court again, like old times."

He smiled. "Anything else you wanna do, partner? I'll make it happen."

There was another warm laugh. "Mostly I just want to spend time with everyone. Can you make sure there's time for us? Just us."

His heart fluttered. "Y-yeah. I'll be sure of it."

"Good." A pause, a hesitation, a note of uncertainty that was unusual to hear from him. "You're important to me too, Yosuke."

His heart fluttered again, took up residence in his throat, and it was hard to find the next words to say, let alone actually say them, but somehow he stammered them out while a roaring sound happened in his ears. "Th-thanks, it's- it's good to hear it, you're right. M-maybe we should...try to say it more, to each other."

Souji sounded a bit more distant, probably because his ears were still roaring. "I think you're right. Let's try that."

"Yeah." He squeezed the pillow tight, the roaring sound replaced by the thudding of his heart. He was pretty sure he was smiling, he wasn't sure when he started but he was definitely smiling, and he was definitely sure that this guy was the best person in his entire life and the one he wanted to be with, whatever that meant, they could sort all that out later but they were getting closer to it, and it was terrifying but also pretty amazing, that they could be so important to each other and understand this and feel this way. It was overwhelming but it was really, really good. He swallowed, laughed softly, and said, "I miss you, partner."

"I miss you too, Yosuke," said that warm, wonderful, and completely amazing voice that belonged to the greatest person he had ever known who happened to think he was really important to him and someone he wanted to be with. "I'll see you soon."

"Yeah," he whispered, closing his eyes. "That's gonna be so great."


End file.
